


I told you so

by QSF



Category: Kamen Rider Gaim
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-05
Updated: 2014-05-05
Packaged: 2018-01-22 01:42:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1571342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QSF/pseuds/QSF
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn't as if Kaito had planned any of this... which was most likely lucky, because he was not very good at planning.</p><p>Set in the middle of episode 28, so be warned, massive spoilers!</p><p>(I promised to write some Melonana and here it is)</p>
            </blockquote>





	I told you so

These days the Helheim forest was more Kaito's home than Zawame was. The roles were simpler there. The people less invasive. Even the inves had started to more or less ignore him, maybe sensing that he was a threat and not prey. If Zawame represented the muddled emotions that he still was not sure how to deal with, Helheim represented the purity of purpose he aspired to. If he would have had access to a shower, he would never have had to go back home. Sometimes he even slept there, wrapped in blankets in the protective branches of a tree, because the inves were many things, but they weren't climbers. That was why he had felt comfortable stashing Kouta in one after he had been knocked out.

Kouta Kazuraba.

Not even here could he escape the people, or the feelings they stirred in him.

At least Kouta was the lesser of evils, a nuisance that maybe would start to understand now that his best friend had betrayed him. Maybe he should have told Kouta the trot, but that wouldn't really have worked. Kouta believed in his Micchy; and in order for that belief to be shattered, he would have to realize the betrayal himself. Maybe then he could start growing up into the man that Kaito sometimes thought he saw in him.

Except that not even men were immune to being idiots. Or to be betrayed by the people they trusted. Kaito still couldn't believe how stupid certain people could be at times. How blind to the cutthroat nature of the world. And once again, he indulged in a brief moment of regret, but he wasn't sure exactly what he was regretting. He wasn't someone that got involved in politics or plots. If Yggdrasil tore itself apart from the inside, nobody would be happier than him. Except...

No. He had been stupid enough for one lifetime already.

...

Kaito had heard the fight long before he even came close, the clash of energies making the forest uneasy. It sounded like there was more than one rider involved, was Kouta Kazuraba here again picking a fight with Yggdrasil? Or were several riders fighting an Overlord? The sounds were distant, but grew sharper as he shifted into his armour. Not for the first time, he wished that he would have just taken Kouta's Peach lockseed, but he was neither a backstabber, nor a thief, so his normal armour would have to do.

He should never have ventured into the valley of the Overlords to explore. Now the sheer cliff side barred his path to get up to the fight. He should have realized that the main crack that led to Yggdrasil headquarters would be more of a focal point than the long abandoned dwellings of Helheim. At least when he did not have Kouta with him to help ferret out where the Overlords were hiding.

The sounds of battle grew more intense as he worked his way up the cliff, and then a new song joined the fray. A familiar one.

"Lemon energy.  
Soda.  
Lemon Energy Arms."

What now? Kaito nearly lost his grip as his handhold crumbled when he tensed his hand. Climbing in armour was safer, but you had to watch your strength.

"Fight Power Fight Power  
Fight Fight Fight F-F-F-Fight!"

Lemon energy. How many had access to that? Clenching his jaw inside his helmet, he tried to climb faster.

And then...

It wasn't even a conscious reaction as the body tumbled past him. Kouta would have teased him for acting like a hero, and maybe he would have been right. He didn't even know who it was, just the fact that someone was falling to their death, an unarmoured person tumbling down a steep cliff in a forest lethal to unprotected men. Leaping out to catch it was not something he hesitated to do. He was still human.

The landing was rough, the body wrapped in his arms taller than him, and Kaito tried to protect it as best he could as the tangled brushes and soft mud absorbed their fall.

Oh.

There were a number of people he had expected to be tossed off a cliff (Kouta number one of them, because that just seemed to be the way he lived his life) but Takatora was not one of them. Especially not beaten, bloody and unconscious.

And to think he had hoped to escape complications by staying in Helheim.

...

Takatora's wounds had not been serious. Most of them had been inflicted by the fall. Kaito had cleaned them as best he could; because he had quickly found out that it paid off to have medical supplies stacked in here as well. And now the project head of Yggdrasil was sleeping peacefully, wrapped in his blanket, and Kaito had no idea what to do.

It wasn't as if he had planned to befriend the man. No, if anything he had planned to fight him, because he represented the company that he hated, and he had beaten him in a fight, which meant he had to work harder to get back at him.

It wasn't as if he had planned to talk to him. Not more than exchanging a few words in order to get his point across; said point being that it was time to transform and fight. The white melon rider had been the one he had aspired to beat before he knew about the Overlords, skilled, graceful and far too powerful.

It wasn't as if he had planned to sleep with him either. But he had lost, and Takatora had been graceful about it and acted as if he understood. Not condescending. Not apologetic. Just poised like no other adult he had met, and to his surprise he had agreed to meet again. To fight.

They had ended up talking. Or maybe arguing was a better term. And honestly Kaito wasn't sure what he saw in the other man (what Kouta might be if he got over himself and grew up). And he didn't know why he kept talking to him (because he kept being treated as an adult). And he certainly didn't know why he kissed him (to provoke the man into some sort of reaction).

Kaito had known he liked men for a long time. He wasn't in the habit of lying to himself like some (Kouta). And in a way, maybe it was fitting to pick someone that he didn't have to worry about emotional attachments with (like Kouta). Something simple and pure, like a fight, someone he could keep hating and... it didn't quite work out that way.

He hadn't needed to end it because there had been nothing there to end (or so he kept telling himself).

The first stirrings of Takatora made him put on his usual frown, looking calmly at the older man as he slowly regained consciousness.

"I told you so." Simple words. True ones.

Kaito had told Takatora he was too trusting. That he would be betrayed. He had not told him that Ryoma had already tried to recruit him, nor that they were already plotting against him. He did not get involved in politics, and if Takatora was too blind to see the forces arrayed against him, he deserved to take a fall. He had just not thought it would be so literal.

"You did tell me." Takatora's voice was steady, masking the confusion as he looked around the forest, trying to remember exactly what had happened. How he was still alive.

"But listening was never your strong point." Kaito couldn't help it, he got up and paced, because he needed to get his frustration out somehow.

"I did listen," Takatora said with a sigh. "It just did not change what needed to be done. I just didn't think Ryoma would..."

"I told you someone would betray you." Kaito tried to, but couldn't keep the frustration from leaking into his voice.

"And themselves, in the end. Yggdrasil is..."

"Yggdrasil is a lie, do you still not get it?" He had raised his voice too loudly, and bit back a frustrated growl.

"We've been over this." Takatora grimaced in pain as he struggled to his feet, still wrapped in the blanket.

"You would have been over if I hadn't been there," Kaito pointed out, not taking a step forward to steady the man.

"Thank you for that." There was a brittleness to Takatora's usual calmness that made Kaito want to shout at the other man.

"Don't thank me. I hate backstabbers. You're my enemy, but at least you understand what fighting is about."

"Enemies..." Takatora was the one taking a step forward and Kaito didn't take one back. "I thought we had moved past that." The hand was soft and heavy on Kaito's shoulder.

"You don't understand me at all."

"But I want to."

"No. You want to save me. And I don't need saving." To prove his point, Kaito grabbed the blanket and pulled the older man closer, pressing a kiss against his lips.

He hadn't meant to do that. He hadn't meant to wrap Takatora in his arms, feeling the slight shift in weight as the other man allowed himself to just relax for a moment. Slightly taller (unlike Kouta). Bulkier (not that he would compare). He hadn't meant to start this thing again, just like he hadn't meant to start it at any of the other times he should have ended it instead (except there was nothing to end).

"Everybody needs saving sometimes," Takatora said with utmost seriousness, looking at Kaito with that strange focus that made the former Baron leader feel like he actually was the centre of the universe. "You're too young to shoulder a burden like this."

"Screw you." Kaito pushed the other man back in frustration. "The world doesn't care how old you are."

"I know," Takatora acknowledged with a nod. "That doesn't mean I can't disagree with it."

"I don't think the world gives a damn what you think either." The sigh was more frustration than anger, he would not get into another one of these arguments, that would only end up with them naked, and he was through with that. Through with Takatora. "If you can walk as well as you can talk, I'd better get you back to a crack. Without your belt you're nothing but flesh in here."

"I can walk." Takatora handed the blanket back. "And you haven't asked me what happened."

"I don't care," Kaito lied. "You were betrayed. Going back to Yggdrasil will likely get you killed for good but you will do it anyway." He folded up the blanket and put it back in the tree where he stored his things. "Ryoma is playing this game better than you."

"He... might be," Takatora acknowledged. "I had not counted on the existence of the Overlords changing the game this much." He was limping as they started walking, but did a good job at keeping up.

"That is because you keep trusting people. He's known about the Overlords for ages. We have too. You're the only one of importance that didn't."

"Why wouldn't he tell me?" Takatora sighed, shaking his head. "No, don't bother. I can guess why. Because the moment I knew, I would grasp at the chance to resolve this threat in a less horrible way. And for some reason that doesn't suit Ryoma's purpose."

"If you are planning to start being sensible, you can always hide out at my place until you are well enough to strike back." Kaito could have kicked himself for suggesting it. He shouldn't get involved. "Nobody ever visits, and nobody would suspect you were hiding there."

"I don't hide," Takatora sounded so insulted that Kaito was glad his back was turned so his smirk didn't show.

"Your call," he said with a shrug. "It's not like I care."

It wasn't like he was going to make sure that Takatora came back with him even if he had to drag him.   
It wasn't like he was going to make sure that he stayed until he had healed at least.  
Maybe longer.

Because he really didn't care.


End file.
